1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer-based user interface, and particularly to a system and method for providing text descriptions and validated parameters to electronic databases having parameter-dependent functions. One aspect of the present invention is directed to a user interface for the development of telecommunication subscriber services.
2. Background and Objects of the Invention
In the Intelligent Network (IN) and the Advanced Intelligent Network (ANI), telephone services are created and controlled using intelligent workstations having user-friendly software. Such telecommunication networks typically include graphical user interfaces which enable telephone service representatives to create new subscriber services and/or customize existing services substantially immediately without the telephone representative having to partake in extensive software programming or editing of cryptic text files as required by the more traditional method of creating telecommunication services.
The graphical user interface for subscriber telecommunication services may typically allow a telephone service representative to develop or modify a subscriber service in part by accessing a library of service independent building blocks. Each service independent building block (SIB) is a software primitive which performs a single unique function and is represented within the user interface as an icon. When a SIB is selected from the SIB library, a telephone service representative is able to alter service-related parameters associated with its particular operation, in order to conform the function of the SIB to the requested subscriber service. The complete description and operation of each SIB is maintained in a single text file.
Further, the user interface may allow a telephone service representative to define and interrelate a number of SIBs in creating more complex subscriber services. In one IN, this is accomplished by placing a number of selected SIB icons and interconnecting the SIB icons with line segments. An exemplary layout or service logic diagram created in developing a subscriber service is illustrated in FIG. 2. Once the diagram for the subscriber service to be created is complete and the desired parameters and text are incorporated into the selected SIBs, a text file of the service layout is automatically created.
One problem with subscriber service development tools of this kind is that the service logic diagram described above and illustrated in FIG. 1 provides little information as to the operation performed. SIB data from the SIB library text file is very cryptic and thus cannot be easily ported into the service diagram in order to better describe the operation of the created service. Because the description of the behavior of a SIB primitive may also vary depending upon the value of a parameter assigned by a user during the creation of the service logic diagram, only a portion of a SIB description from the text file should be included into the logic diagram. Further, user-assigned parameter values for a SIB may not fit within acceptable ranges for the SIB in order to properly function. As a result, there exists a need for a service application development tool from which created service logic diagrams are quickly and easily understood and verified.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a user interface which provides human-readable descriptions of parameter-dependent functional primitives to an electronic database defining an operation, such as a database defining a particular telecommunication subscriber service.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a development tool that provides complete human-readable descriptions and restrictions for each parameter pertaining to a functional primitive used in defining an operation, such as a SIB primitive used in defining a telecommunication subscriber service.
It is another object of the invention to provide a service development tool which provides validation ranges for parameters utilized in performing a subscriber service or other operation.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings in existing service development tools and satisfies a significant need for a user friendly service development tool which more precisely informs the user of the operation of user-created subscriber services.
According to a first embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a service development tool including a set or library of service function primitives and a user interface for creating logic diagrams representing various telephone-related subscriber services using the function primitives. The development tool parses each function primitive employed in the created service logic diagram into a data structure having parameter and operational description information. The data structure for each function primitive is an acyclic set of one or more nodes, each of which contains data fields having text descriptions of the behavior of the function, parameters employed by the function and valid ranges for the parameters employed by the function, and pointers to other node or nodes to which the particular node is related.
Once the data structure for each primitive in a subscriber service logic diagram is created, the service development tool, according to the present invention, then determines the appropriate text descriptions for each selected function primitive. Specifically, for each SIB primitive in the subscriber service logic diagram the tool creates a working node therefor having the same fields as the data fields in the nodes corresponding to the SIB primitive. The tool then sequentially reviews each node in the data structure and suitably updates the parameter description, parameter restriction, and behavioral description fields in the working node based upon the data in the reviewed node and based upon the parameter value(s) assigned by the user to the SIB primitive when creating the service logic diagram. When every node for the SIB primitive is reviewed and the working node fields appropriately updated, the working node contains complete text descriptions for the parameters and operational behavior of the SIB primitive. Following the completion of a working node for each SIB function employed in the subscriber service logic diagram, data in the working nodes may be ported into the subscriber service diagram or associated text file in order to better clarify the operation of the subscriber service to users of the service development tool.
The present invention may be employed in applications which define operations other than telecommunication subscriber services. The present invention may be utilized to provide text descriptions and/or validated parameter values for virtually any electronic database having parameter-dependent functions. For instance, the present invention may be utilized in conjunction with a microprocessor instruction set to provide text descriptions as comments to assembly language code.